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The Illinois Life and the Presidency of 
Abraham Lincoln. 



AN ADDRESS 



The University of Illinois^ 

Lincoln's Birthday, 1896, 



President Draper, 



President Draper's Address. 




IX 18<)() 1113' way to 
school led me. with un- 
varying- reg"ularity, by 
the stately m a n s i o n 1 
which had been the res- 
idence of one of New 
York's g-reatest g-overn- 
ors and most g-iftedl 
sons. William Henry 
Sew ard. The associa- 
tion of this house with 
one of the g-reatest 
names in the history of j 
the state gave it un- 
usual interest to all. and. in connection with events 
which were then transpiring-, led it to exert a con- 
siderable influence upon my childish thoug-ht. Its 
former occupant was not yet a memory. He was 
still a g-reat force in the public life of the people. 
He was representing- his great state in the senate 
of the nation, with a wealth of scholarship and lit- 
erary culture, as well as of hig-h-minded thought 
and courage, which reflected lasting honor upon 
himself and his people alike. He was a common 
and an attractive figure about the capital of the 
state, and the halo of glory which surrounded him 
the principles for which he stood, the fluency o. 
his speech and the grace of his style readily awoke' 
the responsive echoes in the chambers of my awak- 
ening soul. 

When the state presented him to the convention! 
of his party as its candidate for the presidency, andj 
when all the people about me never doubted thej 



acceptance of so promising- a leader, there is no 
wonder that I was his young- and enthusiastic par- 
tisan. And when this finished statesman was set 
aside for a ••rail splitter" from the far-away wilds 
of Illinois, and New York people felt so badly, and 
Mr. Thurlow Weed declared that New York had 
hecome the servant rather than the master of the 
new party, it was not strang-e that I had some little 
share in the common disapjiointment. The names 
adopted by that convention were new and long- and 
strang-e to me, and I wrote ''Abraham Lincoln"' 
and ••Hannibal Hamlin" on apiece of paper and put 
it in my pocket so that if occasion should recxuire I 
could tell what they were, liut that paper soon 
became useless, for in a day the nominee of that 
convention became a leading- fig-ure in the world. 
And each passing- day only streng-thened the con- 
viction that what was then done was fortunate and 
was well done: indeed, that it was directed by that 
Providence which is in and about all of the affairs 
of men. 

It is my purpose to-day to inquire what were the 
qualities, and what had produced the qualities, in 
Abraham Lincoln, the child of poverty, the hardj^ 
son of toil, the itinerant country lawyer, the poli- 
tician of limited experience in the affairs of the na- 
tion, which made his administration of the presi- 
dential office during- the critical period of the Civil 
War so much more beneficent than we can possibly 
lielieve would have resulted from the election of 
the rich, g-ifted, able, no less uprig-ht, and far more 
experienced senator from the Empire state, that 
all coming- g-enerations will be thankful that that 
national political convention acted as it did. 

STUDY OF THE CHARACTER OF LINCOLN. 

Recent years have witnessed an intensive study 



—4— I 

of all of the details of Mr. Lincoln's life. Xo word 
of his has been too small, no act too trivial, no as- 
sociation too remote to enlist the quick attention 
of an interested people. The child of pioneers, he 
was a pioneer himself. The story of his childhood 
is one of the most stirring- in all the stirring- rec- 
ord of American pioneering, and one of the most 
pathetic in all the history of the world. It is so 
familiar that there is no need to dwell upon it now. 
The humble Kentucky log- cabin without floor or 
window or chimne3^ in which he first saw the lig-ht 
■eig-hty-seven years ag-o to-day, is as safe from pro- 
fanation by the instinctive feelings of all true citi- 
zens of the Republic as was the ark of the covenant 
by the written law of the Jews. The book he read 
in lieu of schooling, the desk upon which he wrote 
a letter, are relics worthy the care of a whole peo- 
ple. The house in which he lived receives the 
jealous care of the state to which his renown 
Tjrings its greatest honor, and the tomb which 
liolds his ashes is a mecca to which all lovers of 
free government, from all nations and in all 
generations, will turn with continually increasing 
devotion. 

From this reverential interest in the material 
things by which he was encompassed the study 
has passed on with still larger devotion to the 
thoughtful contemplation of the secret springs of 
his inner life. His intellectual qualities are being- 
analyzed only to deepen wonder and widen admi- 
ration. His innermost religious feelings are being 
review^ed in the light of every expression having 
the remotest bearing upon them. His relations to 
his mother who died in his ninth year, to his al" 
■ways kindly foster mother, to his wife and chil- 
dren, and to the men who were the associates of his 



pul)lic life, are all under the searchlig-ht of public 
investig-ation. Even his first love has lifted the 
plain name of -'Ann Rutledg-e"" to a fame so lasting- 
that all patriotic Americans are tempted to jour- 
ney far that they may drop a sympathetic tear over 
the fair head at her humble and untimely g-rave. 
His liking- for the anonymous hymn, '"Ohl \\h\ 
Should the Spirit of Mortal be Proud?" has immor- 
talized it. 

Out of all this thoug-htful study there has g-rown 
a literature, both in prose and verse, which forms 
no smal 1 part of the g-eneral literature of the na- 
tion, or indeed of the Ang-lo-Saxon race. Out of 
this prolific literature I quickly draw a few sug- 
gestions in the hope that they may have some spe- 
cial interest to this vast assemblage of the people of 
the University, supplemented so proiidly by the 
residents of the thrifty adjacent cities, the teachers 
and pupils of the public schools, and the veteran 
soldiei's of the (Jrand Army of the l7nion. Illinois- 
ans all. proud of our great state and cherishing all 
that has ennobled her life, we shall hope to find 
something in the career of xVbraham liincoln in Ill- 
inois which specially qualified him for his remark- 
able record in the presidency and for liis world-re- 
nowned work. 

I'l.ACE OK HIKTll AM) SV.MI'ATIIV Willi TIIK SOITII. 

None of us can throw off the infiuences which 
spring from the place of our nativity or the asso- 
ciations of our first years. (Jrounded as ^Nlr. Lin- 
coln "was in the principles of free government, 
strong as he was in his love for the humanities, ab- 
horrent as he was of the slave system, it was fortu- 
nate that he was born south of the Ohio and in a 
slave state, and that his earlier life was spent in 



-(3- 



southern Illinois among- a people who were strong 
sympathetic with the people of the south by rel 
on of kindred and associations. The ties of birt 
of kindred, of years of familiar association with 
chivalric people, and of marriag-e. all combined 
g-ive the man whose official acts were to g-ather t 
g-reatest army that a constitutional state ev 
marshalled to subdue insurrection, a deep ai 
abiding- sympathy with the people of the south. 

This it was that led him when the crucial m 
ment had come which required him to speak fro 
his g-reat office to an ag-itated people, already toi 
into frag-ments. to take his inaug-ural address upc 
his knee, even when surrounded by multitudes < 
g-reat men and the excitement of a great occasion 
even after the bug-les had sounded the onwar 
march of the inaug-ural procession, and add the in 
portant part of these memorable words: 

''In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countri 
men. and not in mine, is the momentous issue c 
civil war. The g-overnment will not assail you." 
•'You can have no conflict without being- youj 
selves the ag-g-ressors. You have no oath reg-istere 
in heaven to destroy the g-overnment: while I shal 
have the most solemn one to preserve, protect an( 
defend it. '" 

"I am loth to close. We are not enemies, bu 
friends. We must not be enemies. Thoug-h pa;. 
sion may have strained, it must not brelk ou 
bonds of affection.'" 

••The mystic cord of memory, stretching- frou 
every battle-field and patriot g-rave to every living 
heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land 
will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when ag-aii 
touched, as surely as they* will be. by the bettei 
ang-els of our nature." 



, JLt was this knowledge of the southern people 
vhich enabled him to take the covirse. and take it 
3iroinptly. which prevented his native state with 
ler g-reat associates upon the border line from fol- 
owing- the six sisters with which they were 
dosely allied and which had already assumed to 
|-o out of the Union, and thus to wdn at the outset 
I memorable triumph in administration without 
vhich we cannot but fear that the strug-g'le for the 
mion must have broken in disaster. It was this 
ympathy with the south w^hich led him to ting-e 
lis most drastic official acts with expressions of 
eeling-s so kindly to the south that no man could 
)e embittered unless already' crazed bj^ passion, 
i,nd which g-ives his memory a recog-nized place in 
he warm feeling's of the great South-land to-day. 

SYMPATHY WITH THE PKOI'LK. 

Abraham Lincoln was the child of the common 
)eople. The training- for his great work was in 
he school of poverty and of toil. His roug-h 
)ioneer life opened to him the secret spring-s of 
luman action. It was not money, but brawn 
vhich could put down the Rebellion. The people 
)f the north had been separated by political dis- 
iussion and hate. They were to be united in feei- 
ng- before an army could be marshalled. His 
iag-acious words, born of his experiences in Hli- 
lois, did the work. Could the g'reat New York 
senator have said from his standpoint what I heard 
VIr. Lincoln say to the New York leg-islataire. and 
.vith like effect? Hear him: 
••I deem it just to you. to m3\self and to all. that 
should see everything- : that 1 should hear every- 
ihing-: that I should have every lig-ht that can be 
:)roug-ht within my reach, in order that when 1 do 
^o speak. I shall have enjoyed everj' opportunitj^ 



to take correct and true g-roimds: and lor this 
reason I don't propose to speak, at tliis time, oft, 
the policy of the government. Hut when the tiine ' 
conies I shall speak, as well as 1 am able, for the ' 
good of the present and future of this country- — for 
the good both of the north and the south of this 
countr^^ — for the good of the one and tlie other. 
and of all sections of the country." 

This was humility which was not assumed. 
AVhile it was a seeking for light and for guidance 
which was known to be sincere, because of the 
history of the man. it was strongl3'^ sugg-estive of a 
high purpose, worthy of the great place to whicli 
he was going and of the momentous acts which 
soon plunged the whole country into the awful 
vortex of war. 

Mr. Lincoln was not an aristocrat, as the term is 
commonly understood, and he could not be. There 
was no artificiality about him. He never pre- 
tended to be other than he was: indeed he was 
careful not to appear to be other than he was. He 
carried his Illinois waj's and his Illinois ideas with 
him to the presidency. When he spoke he drew 
freely upon his Illinois experiences. Some who 
lived in a kind of artificial society thought at the 
time that he was coarse. He was not coarse. He 
was simply natural, unaffected and honest. Of 
course under the influences of his great position 
and his new surroundings, his life underwent a 
change. As he would say, he "bought a new coat." 
He avoided being odd. He conformed to the 
reasonable conventionalities of the place, while he 
ripened and grew in strength, but he never dis- 
sembled. There was nothing of which he was so 
proud as his right to a place in the crowd, upon 
the ground floor of the great human family: and 



notliinj^- wliich affoi-dcd liini ><> nmrli jiU'iisurr :is to 
recall tlu- i-Vfiits ..f his youih and r<-e-i)niit llir 
Vitories of his yoiinji- manhooil in inini»i>. And 
tht'iH' was a freshness and a reality and a trans- 
parency ahout it. \vhi«di lent a chaiMn to his p.-rson 
and <4-av(' urcMt force to his adniinist I'at ion. 

His reeling- for tlie lowly and oi)i)r.'.>M'd was in- 
tense, almost c >nsnniin»r- He could treat a stal- 
wart man with indifferent familiarity, luit theci-y 
of a ehild t:)nched his lu-art an<l the ph-adin-s .if a 
woman unnei'ved him. 

He i-ommenced the growth of his \vhid<er.> njxin 
rec>dvin<i- a childisl) h'tter fi-om a little uirl. and 
when his inanonral ti'ain stop))»Ml for a moment at 
W I'stHeld he asl<i-(l foi- her and then u'ot down into 
the ci-owd that lie mi,i;ht kisN her. 

lie always spoke familiarly t:. the otlici'r who 
stood at his door and seemed to i-idi^h a chat w ith 
t he private soldier upon his l)eat more than with 
the commandino- jrt.iieral at his head<|uarti>rs. 

It wa^ this sympathy for the lowly and th«' w»':ik 
which led him to put death sentences from tin- 
aiiny into his desk with<»ut his a])]n-oval until 
the military authorities iirocurt-d a (dianye in 
the law in order to o-et ai'ound him. When 
the .lud<>-e-Advocate < leneral laid the first one hi-- 
foi-e liim he said: "I will keep this i^few days un- 
til I read t lu' testinn)ny. ' ' W hen the[v second cami' 
he said: •! must ])ut this 1)\-. until I can settle in 
my miml whet her this soldier can he>t sei-ve the 
counti-y dt>ad or ali> c." 'i"(»the thii-d he said: •'I'lu' 
(ieiu'i-al foirima ndim;' the hi'iu'ade is to he luM'e in a 
frw days and I will spe.k with him ahout it." 
W hen the next came aiid he was told that it wa^aii 
extreme case, that tin- man was woi-thlcss and 
wit hout mothei-. w ife or children, and that t he dis- 



—10— 
cipline of the army demanded summary action, he 
said to General Holt: '-Well, after all, Judge, I 
think I must put this with my leg cases/' "Mr. 
President, what do you mean by 'leg eases'?" was 
asked. "Why, those papers in that pigeon hole all 
refer to cases of 'cowardice in the face of the ene- 
my,* but I call themi "leg cases*. If Almighty God 
gives a man a cowardly pair of legs how can he 
help their running away with him?"" 

After all. this consuming sympathy with the un- 
fortunate was the quality in his nature which fitted 
him for the leadership at the crucial time and gave 
him the inspiration for the Emancipation Procla- 
mation. And this quality grew out of the experi- 
ence of his own life. 

HIS FAIRNESS AXP KEEN INSIGHT. 

Mr. Lincoln was probably not what would have 
been called a great lawyer at the time of his nomina- 
tion. He certainly was not a case lawyer. In his 
practice he did not cite, and doubtless he did not 
know, the precedents in the reports. Eut he had 
read the law from its original sources. He assimi- 
lated what he read. He knew the secret springs 
of the common law. He drank in its spirit. Or. more 
accurately, it found rich ground for fruitage in the 
g-reat soul which the Almighty had given him. He 
was judicial, fair, and just by nature. The circum- 
stances of his Illinois law practice made his mind 
keen and incisive,, and the experience of his politi- 
cal contests prepared him for leading and manag- 
ing men, and fortified him for his quiokly coming 
share in great events. 

When the time came he grasped those events 
with a firm hand and a comprehensive understand- 
ing. It is impossible now to even enumerate the 



—11— 

circumstances wliicli lead up to tht> ("ivil War. 
There was neg-ro slavery in the south and the e;)u- 
stitution had recog-nized it. liut the o-reat ordi- 
nance for the oro-anization of the Northwest Terri- 
tory, which in iinportance rivalled the constitution 
itself, dedicated ta freedom all that part of the 
public domain north of the Ohio. Other territory 
acquired later beyond the Mississippi was left to 
uncertainty and controver.sy. The Missouri Com- 
promise was (mly a temporary expedient. For 
forty years the slave power had soujj-ht to extend 
its system into the parts of this territory where 
southern men had found their new homes. The 
convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln had not 
declared ajrainst the slave .system within its old 
limitati(ms. but had taken decided o-round a>*-ainst 
its extension into the nt'uly foi-nied territories of 
the west. 

His election, even on this platfoi-ni. embittered 
the slave power on the one hand, and. on the other, 
stimulated while it did not satisfy the ri<^-hteous 
and cjntinually g-rowing- public sentiment in the 
north which demanded the overthrow of the slave 
system altogether. When he took the oath of othce 
he stood between these extreme and contending- 
forces. Six states had already assumed to go out 
of the Union and set up a confederated republic of 
their own. With his hand on the liook. he took 
his position with exactness. It was a position 
which pleased none of the extremists. He said he 
■ derived all his powers from the constitution, the 
laws, and the people, and that it was not within 
his commission to interfere with the slave sy.stem 
in the slave states. It was his business to save the 
I'nion and enforce its laws. \Vhatever it was well 
to do to save the Tnion. not prohibited by the con- 



— In- 
stitution, he would do: what it was well tolea\e 
undone in order to save the Union he would for- 
bear. He was commanded to enforce the laws of 
the Cnited States by the fundamental law. and he 
would do it upon every rod of her territory with 
such force as mig-ht he necessary, so long- as he 
could command it. 

This was a simple platform. Its streng-th was in 
its simplicity, in its clearness, in its freedom from 
demoralizing' and confusing- allusions. It was 
worthy of a g"reat man and proved equal to a g"reat 
occasion. Upon it all patriots could stand, and 
upon it they did stand. Eefore it party lines dis- 
appeared for the time being- and under it the great- 
est army was g-athered that ever was marshalled 
b}'^ a constitutional state for the suppression of in- 
surrection. Under this platform and throug"h this 
army slavery was finally'' abolished and the slave 
power overthrown, and all else was done that was 
so well done. 

This is not the day. althoug-h the temptation is 
g-reat. to tell the fascinating- story of that heroic 
army. It went through all the horrors of an awful 
war to restore the Union and enforce the laws. 
After a contest, which in length of time and in un- 
numbered horrors had not been anticipated, it met 
with complete success. While succeeding genera- 
tions will look upon each faithful meinber of that 
g'rand army as a hero, coming g-enerations will 
value more and more deeply the great master spirit 
which was behind it, which called it . into being-, 
g-ave it form and organization, framed the simple 
creed which made it a cosmopolitan army of think- 
ing patriots, and nerved its arm for the most 
heroic deeds in histor3^ 

That great mind never departed from its simple 



creed. The waves of selfishness, of supercil ious 
self-importance, of political hate, of V)i<^-otry. all 
beat ag-ainst him. but the rock stood the storm. 

The times were unusual. The whole country 
was a military camp. The financial system was 
overthrown. Credit was low and the g-overnment 
beg-an printing- its own money. The needs of the 
army and navy were enormous, and the business 
transactions were such as we had never imagined 
before. (Jreed was rampant. The writ of Itdhcas 
('(n'lnisw'ciH suspended and laws were .sliaped to suit 
unusual circumstances. The resulting- commotion 
threw all manner of minds into activity. The good 
and the bad. the wise and the cranks, all came to 
the surface, and all concentrated and intensified at 
the presidential office, but the President adhered 
to his simple creed and went steadily on his way. 

Ue treated all patiently, but frankly. He had 
an intuitive sense of propc'r perspective: he knew 
the true importance of things. When a company 
of temperance people came to ask that (Jeneral 
(h-ant be removed because he drank too much, he 
inquired what kind of liquor he drank, and said he 
wanted to know so he could send some to other 
g-enerals that they mig-ht win such victories as 
(;rant was winning. --Temperance is a g'ood 
thing ■■ he said, '-but we are saving the Unifm 
now." 

The intrepid confederate army made no more 
trouble in fi-oiit than the .sincere but impatient 
aT)oliti(m leaders did behind him. To Horace (Jree- 
ley. the greatest of American editoi-s. his party as- 
sociate and the stinging thorn in his flesh, he 
wrote: 

-I have just read yours of the 10th instant, ad- 
dressed to myself thrcmgh the New York Tribune. "' 



—14— 

••If there be in it any statements or assumptions 
of fact which I may know to be erroneous. I do not 
now and here controvert them."" 

••If there be any inferences which I may believe 
to be falsely drawn. I do not now and here arg-ue 
ag"ainst them."' 

"If there be perceptible in it an impatient and 
dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old 
friend whose heart I have always supposed to l)e 
ricrht."" 

'•If there be those who would not save the l'ni(m 
unless the3^ could at the same time save shivery. 
1 do not ag-ree with them." 

'If there be those who would not save the union 
unless they could at the same time destroy slavery. 
I do not agree with them.*' 

''My paramount object is to save the Union . (tnd 
■hot either to save or destroy slavery " 

''If I could save the Union without freeing" any 
slave, I would do it — if I could save it by freeing" 
all the slaves. I would do it — and if I could do it 
by freeing" some and leaving" others alone. I would 
also do that." 

•■\Vhat I do about slavery and the colored race. I 
do because I believe it helps to save the Union, and 
what I forbear. I forbear because I do not believe 
it would help to save the Union.'" 

••I shall do less whenever I shall believe that 
what I am doing" hurts the cause, and I shall do 
more whenever 1 believe doing" more will help the 
cause."" 

"I shall trv to correct errors when shown to be 
errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they 
shall appear to be true views.'" 

"I have here stated my purpose according" to my 
views of official duty, and I intend no modification 



— i:.— 
of inj oft-expressed i)ers()mil wisli that all men 
everywhere could be free."' 

From the hour of that touehinf^- farewell speech 
to his neig-hhors in the SpringHeld depot, down to 
the fatal night in Ford"s theatre, his life was con- 
secrated to the restoration of a dissevered country. 
Everything else was subordinate. It is a su- 
preme satisfaction to know that his life's ambition 
was consummated before he went to his everlasting- 
reward 

MH. I.IXrOT.N AS A S1'?^,AKKI{. 

Mr. r^ineoln was not an orator in the sense tluit 
his great competitor in the nominating- convention 
was an orator. Me was awkward in person. He 
was a reader of literature: but he .seldom used its 
Howers to ornament his addresses. Here, as in 
everything else, he was plain and unassuming-, lie 
atterai:)ted none of the g-raeesof the traditional ora- 
tor. We have been led to admire the fluency of 
speech of other candidates for, or occupants of. the 
presidential office since then, but surely he ranks 
below none of them. In purity of style he sur- 
passed them all. And he made many speeches. In 
liis inaugural journey alone he made thirty-six 
more or less substantial addresses upon great (ques- 
tions, and always with safety and marked ac- 
ceptability, lie. himself, was hardly in his ad- 
dresses, lie was eminently successful as a speech 
maker, but his success was not in his appearance, 
or his manners, but in the substance of what he 
said. His cause was always held up before his 
auditors; his logic was irresistible; and his style, 
ae(iuired before the debating- clubs and before the 
farmer juries and the plain people w^ho constituted 
the political assemblag-es of Illinois, at that time, 
was so simple, pure, and penetrating', that it has 



— IC— 

become distinctive in the literatnre of the Knoj-lish 
lang-uag-e. 

KVEKY IXf'll THE rHKSIDENT. 

NMth all his modesty he was every inch the 
president. He took his positions promptly and with 
certainty. He never hesitated to exercise any of 
the prerog-atives of his great office. In an unnsual 
crisis he even strained those prerog-atives and pnt 
them to the accomplishment of unusual ends. (Jo- 
ing- into an official circle of the nation's g'reatest 
statesmen, and without experience or familiarity 
with administrative functions himself. Jie did his 
g-reat work with his own hand and stopped at 
nothing- which would save the I'nion. 

IHs messag-es to cong-ress were penned with the 
confident air of a veteran. His proclamations rang- 
like g-reat sig-nal g-uns from ocean to ocean. He 
took the most heroic action with the utmost quiet- 
ness of manner. He directed his cabinet officers 
with a g-entle. Tmt an unhesitating- hand. AVithin 
ninety days of his inaug-uration he took Mr. Sew- 
ard's memorable dispatch to ^Hnister Adams, upon 
our relations with (Jreat liritain. made erasures, 
chang-es. and additions, until the orig-inal now 
on tile in the State department looks worse than a 
theme after being- slashed l)y the j^rofessor of rhet- 
(n-ic in our I'niversity: and all the world quickly 
says that every chang-e was an improvement. His 
laconic direction to the g-reat. iron-handed Secre- 
tary of War was the simple indorsement upon the 
l)apers: -Do this," with only the initials. "A. L." 
beneath. He was never uninformed about the 
army. He made the plan . of org-anization. he 
selected the leaders, he advised movements with a 
military insig-ht possessed by few and worthy of 



— IT— 
tlie greatest professional military men of the ag-e. 

He was alert and his acts were timely. He cen- 
sured delay unsparing-ly. He thanked the army for 
victory very quickly. He promoted the deserving-. 
Again and ag-ain he called vipon the nation to hum- 
ble itself in prayer before the (iod of nations. 

Tpon the second nig-ht of the decisive battle of 
(lettysburg- he wrote an order as Commander-in- 
Chief to (Jeneral Meade, directing- him to intercept 
Lee"s retreat and g-ive him another Ixittle. He 
sent it by a special mesenger, with a private note 
saying that this seemed to him to be the thing to 
do. but that he would leave it to the ultimate de- 
cision of the military commander on the ground. 
The general order was not a matter of record, and 
need not be. If Meade would undertake the move- 
ment, and it was successful, he need say nothing 
about it. If it failed, he could publish the order 
immediately. In other words: --(Jo ahead. Make 
an heroic attempt to annihilate that army in its 
disheartened state and before it can recross the 
river. If the attempt succeeds, you take the glory 
of it: inul if it fails I will take the responsibility of 
it."" 

The people of the state of New York will never 
think less of (Jovernor Seward than they always 
did. but rather they will hold his memory in 
higher and still higher esteem with the passing- 
years. But the people of New York will always 
look with entire satisfaction upon the original draft 
of the Emancipation Proclamation in their s^tate 
library, in the long, clear hand of the great Eman- 
cipator himself, with only a formal beginning and 
ending in the handwriting of the accomplished 
Secretary of State. The greatest act of his life, 
perhaps the greatest act of any life, was deter- 



—18— 
mined by the' intelligence and performed by the 
hand of this plain Illinois lawyer in his closet, 
ins WIT. 
In speakin- of the character of Abraham Lincoln 
it is not permissible to omit a special reference to 
his wit, for it was proverbial and a part of the ■ 
man In qnick retort, in apt illustration, m ready 
humor, he had few peers. This accomplishment is 
commonly dangerous to public men. but his wit 
was so pure, so spontaneous, so apt. and his ser- 
vices were so transcendent, that he has not suffered 
in consequence of it. Indeed it was fortunate that 
he had it, for it came to his aid at critical jimc- 
tures. It helped relieve the hours of his despon-i 
dency. and they were many. It enforced his views.- 
It saved him when at the breaking point. 

On the 5th of June. 1863, he wrote General 
Hooker: -In a word. T would not take any risk 
of being entangled upon the river like an o? 
lumped half over a fence and liable to be torn b..| 
the dogs front and rear, without a fair chance t(j 
gore one way or kick the other." And. m a dayi 
the eighteen thousand dead and wounded Lnior 
soldiers at Chancellorsville. immediately bor 
dreadful testimony to the military foresight of th 
great war president. 

To a committee of congressmen 'who came to pre 
test against the removal of McClellan, he sai 
frankly that he thought the general had had o] 
portunity; that he complained too much, and thf 
he made no headway. They replied that he wi 
certainly a great engineer. "Yes. but he must ha. 
run a stationary engine,^' was the answer. 

Going down to review. the army, he rode upon f 
army wagon and found the driver swearing at li 
mules. He said: "^ly friend, you must be ; 



Episcopalian?" "Xo. sir: what makes yow think 
so?" asked the man. "NMiy. yon swear the way 
(Governor Seward does and he is an Episcopalian, 
but he has mules to drive sometimes and it may be 
in the business," was the answer. 

His g-rasp upon affairs was sutticiently strong" to 
let him use his wit with impunity. He used it for 
a laudable purpose and it brought him rest from 
his g-reat cares. 

It would be a profitable occupation for some stu- 
dent to collect the innumerable, published, homely 
references and witty illustrations used while he 
was president, and drawn from his life in Illinois. 
Indeed it is not fanciful to say that this conspicu- 
ous trait in his character, this keenness of wit, this 
love of story telling, this quickness of retort, was 
largely developed by his experiences in the hotels 
and in the court rooms when he was an itinerant 
lawyer upon the 8th ch-cuit of this state. 

SAGACIOrS I'OLITICS. 

He had freely declared his indifference to renom- 
ination prior to the end of his first term. He had 
questioned whether the name of some other candi- 
date would not go farther to save the Union. He 
had avowed his entire readiness to stand aside for 
any other person whose name would unite the 
north or advance the armies a sing-le rod upon the 
field. liefore the end of his first term political dif- 
ferences had become intense behind him. It was 
a great trouble to him. In 1803 he had thoug-hts of 
an effort to blot out all parties and unite all patri- 
ots in one organization, with one of his old oppo- 
nents as the standard bearer. He had sent Thur- 
low Weed to (Governor Seymour with a request that 
the g-overnor should pursue an aggressive war pol- 
icy in New York and become the candidate of all 



—20— 
unionists for the presidency at the next election, 
P^ailing- there, he had caused the same proposition 
to be sent to General McClellan. liut politics is a 
stumbling- block for much that is good and it stood 
in the way of any of these ag-reements. 

When the time came, and he was unanimously 
and enthusiastically renominated, he thoug-ht. and 
very properly thoug-ht. that it was best to under- 
take to be reelected. The task at first seemed for- 
midable indeed, but his experiences in securing- 
delegates and in leading campaigns in Illinois 
again came to his substantial help. 

When he was menaced by a split from his own 
party, he asked his friend to resign his position in 
the cabinet and used the place as a consideration 
with which to negotiate the independent ticket oiit 
of the field. 

Mr. Depew says that when he was secretary of 
state in New York, it was his duty to locate every 
New York regiment in order to gather in the sol- 
dier vote, doing to Washington, and applying to 
Mr. Stanton for the information, he was gruffly re- 
fused on the ground that it was not safe to give 
such information to politicians, as it would get 
into the nevvspapers and so to the enemy. As he 
was leaving in disgust he met ^Nlr. Washburn at the 
door of the war department and told him he would 
go home and publish in the newspapers that the 
soldier vote could not be taken because of the un- 
reasonableness of the Secretary of \Var. Mr. Wash- 
burn said: 

-Have you seen the President? Why. Mr. Lincoln 
is as great a politician as he is a president. If there 
was no other way to get tjiem he would start out 
with a carpet bag and gather up those votes him- 
self. He will find a wav."" 



— :.'l — 

In another half hour Mr. Stanton had been reor- 
o-anized and the difficulty removed. 

When two votes were yet needed to pass the 
amendment to the constitution abolishing" slavery, 
in cono-ress. so that it could be sent to the states, 
he sent for two members and said: "Those two 
t^otes must be procured."" ^^'hen asked how. he re- 
plied: --This amendment affects millions now in 
bondag-e and many millions more yet unborn. The 
matter is too larg-e to be fooled with. I am presi- 
dent of the United JStates, with g-reat powers, and 
[ expect 3'^ou to procure those two votes."" The 
sig-nificance of the remark was understood and the 
votes were procured, and the acts of the President 
a,nd the army were soon approved and established 
by constitutional action. 

Mr. Lincoln ints a politician, but his political 
operations were commendable for they had a laud- 
able end in view. 

HKMGIOl'S FKKI,IN(iS. 

Mr. Lincoln"s relig"ious views have been sur- 
rounded with mystery. In early life he was cer- 
certainly a doubter, and he expressed his doubts 
freely, but it is also certain that in maturer years 
he acc[iiired considerable relig-ious feeling-, and all 
the facts g-o to show that it deepened with his ex- 
panding- g-reatness. Indeed it promoted his g-reat- 
ness. He w^as not hypocritical. He never paraded. 
He cared nothing- for denominational differ- 
ences and little for creeds. An analysis of his re- 
lig-ious feeling-s would doubtless uncover points 
with which many christians would not ag-ree. But 
he came to be an undoubted believer in CJod. in im- 
mortality, in the larg-er liberty which makes men 



free. As early as lS(iU he wrote to Newton Hate- 
man: 

••I know that tjiere is a (Jod and that He hates 
injustice and slavery. I see the storm coming" and 
I know that His hand is in it. If He has a place 
and a work for me. and I think He has. I believe 
I am ready. I am nothing-, but truth is every- 
thing. I know that I am rig-ht. becaiise I know 
that liberty is rig-ht. for Christ teaches it and 
Christ is God.'" 

In November. \Si\:l. he enjoined the orderly ob- 
servance of the Sabbath upon the army and the 
navy as ""a becoming- deference to the best senti- 
ment of a christian people, and a due reg-ard to the 
Divine Will,"* and added: "The discipline and 
character of the national forces should not suffer 
nor the cause they defend be imperiled by the 
profanation of the day or the name of the Most 
High."" 

There has been much said in relation to the pe- 
culiarities of Mr. Lincoln"s relig-ious opinions, but 
the peculiarities are of small account, and the facts 
are too numerous to leave any room for doubt that 
he was a man of deep and continually deepening 
relig-ious culture. He had a constitutional tend- 
ency towards sacred things, an intense emotional 
nature, an innate reg-ard for the truth, an inborn 
reverence for the rig-ht. an abiding- sense of his de- 
pendence upon Crod. And all this limited and ex- 
panded and correlated his other qualities to the de- 
velopment and upbuilding- of a great and uncom- 
mon character Avhich safely directed the American 
republic throug-h the g-reatest crisis in its history, 
and perhaps through the greatest crisis of free 
g-overnment in the world. 



CONCLUSION. 

Walking in the busy streets of the city of At- 
lanta, not long- since, 1 came upon a fine statue of 
Henry W. Grady. Beneath the bronze figure of 
the young orator, whose early death has been so 
widely regretted, was the legend: 

•He died while literally loviriK a nution into peace."' 
Even more suggestive than his cheering words was 
the act of the southern masses which placed this 
monument in their busiest thoroughfare, a witness 
of their satisfacticm at the sentiments which had 
distinguished him. No traveler in the south can 
doubt that there is a *'New South.'' The indus- 
tries are growing and the schools ai'e multiplying. 
There is a healthier sentiment upon sociological 
and economic questions, because the slave system 
is no longer there to throttle it. In spite of lynch- 
ings for heinous crimes, and of course they are to 
be regretted; in spite of provocations, and surely 
they are innumerable: there is a kindlier, more 
rational feeling toward the colored race. As Mr. 
Hooker AVashington puts it, the negro in the 
south is to work out his own destiny, with the help 
of free citizenship under free institutions. The 
gratifying fact is apparent, that he is to be given 
a chance, and that he is seizing it: feebly, it is 
true, but surely he is seizing it. The south has a 
new feeling towards the north. As we understand 
each other better, we love each other more. The 
roads are being broken out. Beaten paths are be- 
ing- made.' Commercial intercourse has commenced 
and fraternal regard is growing. The Ohio river 
no longer separates two opposing peoples who 
merely sustain diplomatic relations with each 
other: there is a chemical affinity in progress: we 
are amalgamating. The bitterness of a century of 



NOV 30 1900 -24- 

controversy is well nig-h gone. The wounds torn 
V, the rough hoof of war have almost healed. The 
soldiers of the two armies, and the young men and 
women of the new generation, who ''look forward 
and not back." have attained this magnificent re- 
sult. The iinion is stronger, safer, because it 
stood the shock of battle The people are more 
homogeneous because more free. A hundred rail- 
lions of united, industrious, frugal, educated, 
christian people, under a free flag, stand in a placa 
so high among the nations that they can command 
anything that is right by the force and dignity oi 
their position, and without resort to war. 

The work of Abraham Lincoln is accomplished.^ 
His qualities point a moral. His career is an \n-\ 
spiration to us. 

"Our fathers' God: from out whose hand- 

The centuries fall like grains of sand: 

We meet to-day, united, free. 

And loyal to our land and Thee. 

To thank Thee for the era done. 

And trust Thee for the opening one." 



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